Chechen Republic / Chechnya
Practically everything that the separatists of Dzhokhar Dudayev and Aslan Maskhadov claimed in the 1990s, Kadyrov got from Putin as a result of a deal, the results of which the Russian society has yet to evaluate and realize. Kadyrov did not get only one thing - the formally recognized state sovereignty of Chechnya. However, it is quite profitable for him to remain part of Russia today: while continuing to strengthen the armed forces and his personal power in Chechnya, he receives generous subsidies from the federal budget.
Vladimir Putin, by granting superpowers to Kadyrov on the territory of the republic, actually made himself and the entire Russian society hostages of this person. Wanting to end the war in the North Caucasus, the head of the Russian state found a solution, the price of which was the formation of a regional political regime within the country, in fact dictating conditions to the federal center Moreover, Kadyrov's demands and tone are becoming more and more aggressive every year.
The Chechen Republic is located on the northern slope of the Greater Caucasus Range and the adjacent Chechen Plain and the Terek-Kuma Lowland. It borders on the Republic of Georgia in the south, on the Republic of Dagestan in the southeast, east and northeast, on the Stavropol Territory in the northwest, and on the Ingush Republic in the west. According to the 2002 Population Census, 1,103,686 people live in the region. According to the 2010 Census - Chechens numbered 1 031 647, or 93.47% of the total.
An important feature of Ramzan Kadyrov’s policy was the demonstrative Islamization of the republic. From the outside, Chechnya looks like a religious state based on medieval Asian traditions. In 2010, Kadyrov publicly stated that “Sharia is higher than the laws of Russia,” and “enemies of Islam must be destroyed.” However, the religiosity of the Kadyrov regime is largely an instrument of political influence.
During the years of Kadyrov's tenure in Chechnya, a cult of his personality was consistently planted. Even before his appointment as president, the former militant celebrated his birthday in Grozny as a public holiday. The opening of an airport and a triumphal arch in Grozny was timed to coincide with the anniversary of the then Chechen prime minister. In all mosques of the republic a prayer service was held for the health of Kadyrov. The next day, a 50,000-strong rally was organized in the city center, the participants of which held portraits of Kadyrov and Putin in their hands.
From 2001 to 2014, more than 464 billion rubles were sent from the state budget of Russia to Chechnya in the form of subsidies, subventions and subsidies. Since 2004, gratuitous transfers have averaged 59 billion rubles a year. Assistance to the republic has reached the largest share in the total volume of transfers to the regions in 2007, when Putin appointed Ramzan Kadyrov as president of Chechnya.
There are oil and gas fields. Building materials are represented by deposits of clay, loam, sandy loam, sandstone, sand for construction work, sand and gravel deposits, limestone. The main contribution to the formation of the gross regional product and ensuring its growth is made by such types of economic activities as mining, manufacturing, construction, trade, transport and communications. The main specialization of agriculture in state organizations is crop production, high-tech processing industries and animal husbandry have great prospects.
The Chechen Republic is rich in various objects of tourist interest, historical and cultural monuments New tourist routes are developed every year Various festivals and other cultural events are regularly held in the republic Affordable price level for tourists Possibility to combine several types of tourism within one route.
The Baku-Rostov railway and automobile routes, as well as the Baku-Novorossiysk main oil pipeline, pass through the territory. The largest rivers are Terek, Sunzha, Argun. The climate is continental.
By the richness and significance of historical and cultural monuments, by the beauty of its nature, the Chechen Republic is one of the most interesting territories in Russia, worthy of the attention of inquisitive and active people. Having a huge tourist and recreational potential, the Chechen Republic has all the necessary conditions for the development of tourism: natural factors, recreation centers, natural monuments, monuments of archeology and ethnography, monuments of early and medieval architecture, military historical sites, museum complexes, etc. There are 333 monuments of history and culture under state protection in the republic, including more than 100 objects of federal significance. This is the richest potential for the development of various types of sightseeing, educational, sports and recreational, historical, cultural and mixed tourism.
According to numerous studies, the Chechens are one of the most ancient peoples of the Caucasus with an expressive anthropological type, a characteristic ethnic face, an original culture and a rich language. Already at the end of the 3rd - the first half of the 2nd millennium BC. the original culture of the local population is developing on the territory of the Chechen Republic. Chechens were directly related to the formation in the Caucasus of such cultures as early agricultural, Kuro-Arak, Maikop, Kayakent-Kharachoev, Mugergan, Koban. The combination of modern indicators of archeology, anthropology, linguistics and ethnography established the deeply local origin of the Chechen (Nakh) people. Mentions of the Chechens (under various names), as the indigenous inhabitants of the Caucasus, are found in many ancient and medieval sources. We find the first reliable written information about the ancestors of the Chechens from Greco-Roman historians of the 1st century. BC. and the beginning of the 1st c. AD
Archaeological research proves the existence of close economic and cultural ties of Chechens not only with neighboring territories, but also with the peoples of Western Asia and Eastern Europe. Together with other peoples of the Caucasus, the Chechens participated in the fight against the invasions of the Romans, Iranians, and Arabs. From the ninth century the flat part of the Chechen Republic was part of the Alanian kingdom. The mountainous regions became part of the kingdom of Serir. The progressive development of the medieval Chechen Republic was stopped by the invasion in the thirteenth century. Mongol-Tatars, who destroyed the first state formations on its territory. Under the onslaught of the nomads, the ancestors of the Chechens were forced to leave the plains and go to the mountains, which undoubtedly delayed the socio-economic development of the Chechen society. In the fourteenth century Chechens who recovered from the Mongol invasion formed the state of Simsir, which was later destroyed by the troops of Timur. After the collapse of the Golden Horde, the plain regions of the Chechen Republic fell under the control of Kabardian and Dagestan feudal lords.
The Chechens forced out by the Mongols-Tatars from the flat lands until the 16th century. lived mainly in the mountains, divided into territorial groups that received names from mountains, rivers, etc. (Michikovtsy, Kachkalykovtsy), near which they lived. From the sixteenth century Chechens begin to return to the plain. From about the same time, Russian Cossack settlers appeared on the Terek and Sunzha, who would soon become an integral part of the North Caucasian community. The Terek-Grebensk Cossacks, which became an important factor in the economic and political history of the region, consisted not only of fugitive Russians, but also of representatives of the mountain peoples themselves, primarily Chechens. In the historical literature, there was a consensus that in the initial period of the formation of the Terek-Grebensk Cossacks (in the 16th-17th centuries), peaceful, friendly relations developed between them and the Chechens. They continued until the end of the 18th century, until tsarism began to use the Cossacks for its colonial purposes. The centuries-old peaceful relations between the Cossacks and the highlanders contributed to the mutual influence of the highlander and Russian culture.
From the end of the sixteenth century the formation of the Russian-Chechen military-political alliance begins. Both parties were interested in its creation. Russia needed the help of the North Caucasian highlanders to successfully fight Turkey and Iran, who had long tried to take over the North Caucasus. Convenient routes of communication with Transcaucasia went through Chechnya. For political and economic reasons, the Chechens were also vitally interested in an alliance with Russia. In 1588, the first Chechen embassy arrived in Moscow, petitioning for the acceptance of Chechens under Russian protection. The Moscow Tsar issued a corresponding letter. The mutual interest of the Chechen owners and the tsarist authorities in peaceful political and economic relations led to the establishment of a military-political alliance between them. On orders from Moscow, the Chechens constantly went on campaigns together with the Kabardians and the Terek Cossacks, including against the Crimea and the Iranian-Turkish troops.
With all certainty it can be argued that in the XVI-XVII centuries Russia had no more loyal and consistent allies in the North Caucasus than the Chechens. About the emerging close rapprochement between Chechens and Russia in the middle of the XVI-beginning of the XVII centuries. says the fact that part of the Terek Cossacks served under the command of the "Okotsky Murz" - Chechen owners. All of the above is confirmed by a large number of archival documents. says the fact that part of the Terek Cossacks served under the command of the "Okotsky Murz" - Chechen owners. All of the above is confirmed by a large number of archival documents. says the fact that part of the Terek Cossacks served under the command of the "Okotsky Murz" - Chechen owners. All of the above is confirmed by a large number of archival documents.
In the second half of the 18th century, and especially in its last two decades, a number of Chechen auls and societies took Russian citizenship. The largest number of oaths of allegiance falls on 1781, which gave some historians reason to write that this meant the annexation of the Chechen Republic to Russia.
However, in the last third of the eighteenth century, new, negative aspects also appeared in Russian-Chechen relations. As Russia strengthens in the North Caucasus and weakens its rivals (Turkey and Iran) in the struggle for the region, tsarism is increasingly beginning to move from allied relations with the highlanders (including the Chechens) to their direct subordination. At the same time, mountain lands are captured, on which military fortifications and Cossack villages are built. All this met with armed resistance from the highlanders.
From the beginning of the nineteenth century there is an even sharper activation of the Caucasian policy of Russia. In 1818, with the construction of the Grozny fortress, a massive offensive of tsarism against Chechnya began. Viceroy of the Caucasus A.P. Yermolov (1816-1827), having discarded the previous, centuries-old experience of predominantly peaceful relations between Russia and the highlanders, begins by force to quickly establish Russian power in the region. In response, the liberation struggle of the highlanders rises. The tragic Caucasian war begins. In 1840, in the Chechen Republic, in response to the repressive policy of the tsarist administration, a general armed uprising took place. Shamil is proclaimed Imam of the Chechen Republic. The Chechen Republic becomes an integral part of the theocratic state of Shamil - the imamate. The process of joining the Chechen Republic to Russia ends in 1859, after the final defeat of Shamil. Chechens suffered greatly during the Caucasian War. Dozens of villages were completely destroyed. Almost a third of the population died from military operations, hunger and disease.
It should be noted that even during the years of the Caucasian War, trade, political, diplomatic and cultural ties between the Chechens and Russian settlers along the Terek, which arose in the previous period, were not interrupted. Even during the years of this war, the border between the Russian state and Chechen societies was not only a line of armed contact, but also a kind of contact-civilization zone, where economic and personal (Kunach) ties developed. The process of mutual knowledge and mutual influence of Russians and Chechens, which weakened enmity and distrust, has not been interrupted since the end of the 16th century. During the years of the Caucasian War, the Chechens repeatedly tried to peacefully, politically solve the emerging problems in Russian-Chechen relations.
In the 1860-70s in the Chechen Republic, administrative and land tax reforms were carried out, the first secular schools for Chechen children were created. In 1868 the first primer in the Chechen language was published. In 1896 the Grozny city school was opened. From the end of the nineteenth century commercial oil production began. In 1893, the railway connected Grozny with the center of Russia. Already at the beginning of the twentieth century. Grozny began to turn into one of the industrial centers of the North Caucasus. Despite the fact that these transformations were carried out in the spirit of the establishment of colonial orders (it was this circumstance that caused the uprising in the Chechen Republic in 1877, as well as the resettlement of part of the population within the Ottoman Empire), they contributed to the drawing of the Chechen Republic into a single Russian administrative, economic and cultural and educational system.
During the years of the revolution and the civil war, anarchy and anarchy dominated in the Chechen Republic. During this period, the Chechens survived the revolution and counter-revolution, the ethnic war with the Cossacks, the genocide of the White and Red Armies. Attempts to create an independent state, both religious (the emirate of Sheikh Uzun-Khadzhi) and secular (Mountainous Republic), were not crowned with success. Ultimately, the poor part of the Chechens made a choice in favor of the Soviet government, which promised them freedom, equality, land and statehood.
Decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee in 1922 proclaimed the creation of the Chechen Autonomous Region within the framework of the RSFSR. In 1934, the Chechen and Ingush autonomies were united into the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Region. In 1936 it was transformed into the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. During the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945), the Nazi troops invaded the territory of the autonomy (in autumn 1942). In January 1943, the Chechen-Ingush ASSR was liberated. Chechens bravely fought in the ranks of the Soviet Army. Several thousand soldiers were awarded orders and medals of the USSR. 18 Chechens were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
In 1944, the autonomous republic was liquidated. Two hundred thousand soldiers and officers of the NKVD and the Red Army conducted a military operation to deport over half a million Chechens and Ingush to Kazakhstan and Central Asia. A significant part of the deportees died during the resettlement and in the first year of exile. In 1957, the Chechen-Ingush ASSR was restored. At the same time, some mountainous regions of the Chechen Republic remained closed to Chechens.
In November 1990, the session of the Supreme Council of the Chechen-Ingush Republic adopted the Declaration of Sovereignty. On November 1, 1991, the creation of the Chechen Republic was proclaimed. The new Chechen authorities refused to sign the Federative Treaty. In June 1993, under the leadership of General D. Dudayev, a military coup was carried out in the Chechen Republic. At the request of D. Dudayev, Russian troops were withdrawn from the Chechen Republic. The territory of the republic became a place of concentration of gangs. In August 1994, the opposition Interim Council of the Chechen Republic announced the removal of D. Dudayev from power. The hostilities that unfolded in the Chechen Republic in November 1994 ended in the defeat of the opposition. Based on the decree of the President of the Russian Federation B.N. Yeltsin "On measures to suppress the activities of illegal armed groups on the territory of the Chechen Republic" on December 7, 1994, the entry of Russian troops into Chechnya began. Despite the capture of Grozny by federal forces and the creation of a government of national revival, hostilities were not stopped. A significant part of the Chechen people was forced to leave the republic. Chechen refugee camps were set up on the territory of Ingushetia and in other regions.
The war in the Chechen Republic at that time ended with the signing on August 30, 1996 in Khasavyurt of an agreement on the cessation of hostilities and the complete withdrawal of federal troops from the territory of the Chechen Republic. A. Maskhadov became the head of the Republic of Ichkeria. Sharia laws were established on the territory of the Chechen Republic. Contrary to the Khasavyurt agreements, terrorist attacks by Chechen fighters continued. With the invasion of gangs in August 1999 into the territory of Dagestan, a new stage of hostilities began in the Chechen Republic. By February 2000, the combined-arms operation to destroy the gangs was completed. In the summer of 2000, Akhmat-hadji Kadyrov was appointed head of the Provisional Administration of the Chechen Republic.
The difficult process of the revival of the Chechen Republic began. On March 23, 2003, a referendum was held in the Chechen Republic, in which the population overwhelmingly voted for the Chechen Republic to be part of Russia. The Constitution of the Chechen Republic was adopted, laws on the election of the President and the Government of the Chechen Republic were approved. In autumn 2003, Akhmat-hadji Kadyrov was elected the first President of the Chechen Republic. On May 9, 2004, A. A. Kadyrov died as a result of a terrorist act.
On April 5, 2007, Ramzan Akhmatovich Kadyrov was approved as the President of the Chechen Republic. Under his direct leadership, dramatic changes took place in the Chechen Republic in a very short time. Restored political stability. The cities of Grozny, Gudermes and Argun have been restored. Extensive construction work is being carried out in the regions of the republic. The health and education systems have been fully operational.
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